


Teamwork

by Piinutbutter



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-19 19:25:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12416484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piinutbutter/pseuds/Piinutbutter
Summary: If you're going to take down the king of vampires, you're going to have to learn how to work with your allies first.





	Teamwork

**Author's Note:**

  * For [j_marquis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_marquis/gifts).



Even as a young child, Sypha knew the importance of protecting her own. Her people were solitary, proud, and self-sufficient, and she was determined to embody all of those ideals.

So, when a fellow Speaker came under surprise attack in their own camp, Sypha jumped at the chance to test her power.

Arn clutched at his mouth, his eyes watering as he fought back tears. Sypha set her spoon down, narrowing her eyes at the culprit: A steaming hot bowl of broth that now set abandoned in the middle of the table. 

The young magician leapt into action, pushing her own meal aside and grabbing the offending bowl in two small hands brimming with ice. The freezing magic worked its way through the flimsy wooden bowl and turned its contents solid within seconds.

“There!” Sypha announced, setting the bowl back down in front of its confused owner with a loud thunk. “I fixed it.”

Hearty laughter startled her, and she turned around to see her grandfather walking into the room. “I suppose that is one way to cool your food down.” He stopped behind Sypha, ruffling her hair. “Being patient might work better in the long run.”

 

* * *

 

Being patient was something Sypha had gotten better at over the years, even if impulse still got the better of her now and then. That said, a vampire and a hunter thereof were currently doing their best to push her patience to its limit.

“What is the problem?” she demanded, knee-deep in water. The next destination on their journey was a large, abandoned ship, rumored by the locals to be inhabited by ghosts. After a few days of searching, they’d found it, just off the coast by the forest. There was land around it, but it would only take a few minutes to swim to, and Trevor’s whip could let him and Sypha climb up, while Alucard could take care of himself. It was a perfect plan.

Except that her companions were both lingering on the shore, staring at the gently-lapping waves like they were poisonous.

Alucard finally spoke up, quietly as ever. “Running water is deadly to my kind.”

Sypha had to reluctantly admit that made sense. If Alucard had the advantages that came with vampirism, despite being half human, he must have been saddled with some of their weaknesses as well. She pointed at Trevor. “And what’s your excuse?”

Trevor rubbed the back of his neck. “I...can’t swim.”

Sypha sighed, trudging back onto shore. “Alright, everyone get back.”

“Look,” Trevor sighed, “We’ll have to find another way. If we head back to the village, I’m sure we...we can...uh...”

He trailed off, watching Sypha straighten her back, take a deep breath, and gather veins of magic in her palms. After a minute of preparation, she crouched and released the spell into the ground, sending raw power outward into the water. A narrow strip of water crackled and froze, solidifying into a crystalline pathway of ice.

Sypha stood up and wiped her hands on her cloak. “It doesn’t reach all the way to the ship, but I can make a second one once we reach the end.”

Trevor warily put a foot on the improvised bridge, then took another step when it didn’t crack. “Damn. Nice.”

Sypha hopped on the ice, calling back to Alucard. “It won’t last long, so get going or be left behind.”

Alucard took most of a step backward, sighed, and finally joined them.

 

* * *

 

The Belmont family estate was situated just outside the thick forest that surrounded their village. Trevor’s mother had always warned him to stay out of the woods, but trying to keep a curious child from playing in the wilderness was about as effective as trying to take the undeath out of a vampire.

Naturally, one warm afternoon found a young Trevor wandering into the maze of trees with nothing but a small knife to keep him company. He played for an hour, hopping between trees and trying to replicate his mother’s elegant knife throws using their bark as practice. Just as he was lining up another throw, a keening noise grabbed his attention.

Trevor frowned, listening closely. The whining continued, high-pitched and sounding severely pained. It was coming from off to his right, so he walked until he found the source. Which turned out to be a scrawny young wolf with its leg stuck in an animal trap.

The boy hesitated, lingering a few feet away from the animal. Wolves were dangerous, he knew that. But this one was so small, and it was in so much pain. It couldn’t hurt to help it out, just this once.

As soon as Trevor stepped closer, the wolf cub’s whines turned to howls.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Trevor tried to soothe it, leaning down to examine the trap.

The cub was howling so loudly Trevor didn’t hear the rustling of leaves right behind him. He did, however, hear the growling - deeper and louder than a young wolf could make.

Trevor dove to the side just in time to avoid the mother wolf’s jaws. As he scrambled to his feet, his stomach dropped - this was no simple wild animal. He’d never seen a werewolf in person, but he could tell instantly that the thing towering over him was a monster.

He glanced down at his slim knife, then glanced up at the slavering werewolf. Then he sprinted away, trying to remember the quickest way out of the forest.

Trevor probably wouldn’t make it. He was young and nimble, but the werewolf’s speed was supernatural. When he hit the edge of the woods, he was panting and stumbling. The werewolf lunged at him, shoving him to the ground with one swipe of her paw. Trevor squeezed his eyes shut, sure that the next thing he’d feel would be fangs in his neck.

Instead, he heard the crack of a whip, followed by an animal yelp.

Trevor opened his eyes to see his mother driving the werewolf back with the family whip, her face stony with anger. The monster rushed her, but she swung the whip in a loop around its neck and tightened it. The holy magic inside the weapon burned, and the werewolf collapsed to the ground.

Then she was fussing over Trevor, checking him for wounds. Once she was satisfied with his safety, it was time for the disapproval.

“Did you go into the woods? After I told you not to a dozen times?”

“No,” Trevor lied, poorly.

His mother sighed. “Well, I trust you won’t be doing that again any time soon.”

She was right.

 

* * *

 

“Where’s Alucard?”

Trevor glanced up from their makeshift campfire, asking “Hm?” around the mouthful of dried meat he was chewing.

Sypha was looking around the hillside. “He said he’d be back with food before midnight. The moon is high in the sky.”

Trevor grunted. “Probably got overconfident and flew into a tree or something. He’s fine.”

Sypha stood up. “I’m looking for him.”

He groaned. “No, come on, why would you do that?”

“Because I don’t believe in leaving my allies behind,” Sypha replied. “You may join me, or not. I don’t care.”

Reluctantly, Trevor stood up, stretching. Sleeping on the ground for so long had done terrible things to his back. “Fine, fine, I’ll come. Only because hauling that tall bastard back to camp would be a nightmare with only one person.”

They extinguished their fire and trekked into the darkness of the nearby woods, where Alucard had gone to hunt something small for their dinner tonight. The place was infested with monsters, of course, but nothing that any of them couldn’t handle.

An hour later, they still had no sign of their wayward vampire. Trevor was about to suggest giving up and heading back to camp to get some sleep, when a soft whining came from directly in front of them.

Sypha narrowed her eyes, her nose wrinkling. “Trap?”

“Could be,” Trevor agreed, uncoiling the Vampire Killer. “Let’s see.”

What they found, huddled in the middle of a clearing, was a vibrantly colored wolf laying still on its side, its bright fur stained red with blood. Peering closer, the cause of the wound was a silver arrow, embedded in the creature’s stomach.

“A holy weapon,” Trevor muttered, lowering the whip. “It’ll bleed out on its own. We don’t need to bother with it.”

“Wait.” Sypha stepped past him, releasing the magic she had been preparing.

“What are you...don’t touch it! It’s not a cuddly puppy, for god’s sake!”

Sypha ignored him, crouching down by the wolf. “Its aura is familiar,” she explained, resting a hand on the wolf’s chest. It made a faint snuffling noise.

Apparently that told Sypha something, because she nodded, gripped the arrow’s shaft, angled her arm carefully, and yanked it out of the wolf’s body.

No longer bound by the magic inherent in the weapon, the wolf attempted to climb to its feet. Sypha gripped the fur around its neck. “Oh no you don’t. Belmont, hold him down while I fix his injuries.”

The creature made a sound that could best be described as ‘miffed’ when Trevor sighed and kept him pinned to the ground. Healing magic was not Sypha’s strong point, but she knew scraps of it, and scraps were enough to erase the damage done by whatever hunter had targeted this particular monster.

“There,” she announced, standing and wiping her hands clean. “You can let go.”

Trevor released his hold on the wolf, and it stumbled to its feet. Moments later, the wolf was gone, and a disgruntled vampire was standing before them.

The Belmont stared at Alucard as he smoothed out his rumpled clothing and mussed hair. “Well?”

Alucard sighed, giving Sypha a nod. “Thank you.”

Sypha smiled. “You’re welcome. By the way, you make an adorable wolf.”

Alucard groaned and started walking out of the clearing. “Let’s get back to camp. I’m tired.”

 

* * *

 

“Come on out. You’ll be fine.”

The only response Lisa got was a small, irritated squeak.

“You just have to jump. Trust us.”

Squeak. Squeak. Lisa saw a tiny, furry wing shifting in the bookshelf corner her son had wedged himself into.

Dracula sighed behind her. “Let me try.”

He reached into the bookshelf, plucking the young bat and cradling him gently in his hand. Adrian had been shifting into this form often lately, so it was about time he learned how to use his wings properly.

“All you have to do is trust your instincts,” Dracula told the pile of fur he was holding, before handing Adrian over to his mother. “Watch me.”

Dracula’s bat form had a wingspan taller than his wife. He shifted into his airborne form with the practice of centuries, and demonstrated flapping his wings for his son. He gave Lisa a nod, and she tossed Adrian into the air. “You can do it!”

The bat flapped his thin wings wildly, managing to keep himself alight. Lisa clapped, full of pride. At least until he flew straight into the wall.

 

* * *

 

Sypha took a step forward.

Then took a step back.

Then took a step forward.

Then took several steps back.

Then hunkered down and put her head in her hands with a defeated groan. There was no way she could cross this gap. The swaying pendulum that Trevor had used to get across had fallen from its rusty mountings immediately after Trevor had landed on the other side of the chasm. The castle’s clock tower was full of deadly drops, but this was the first one that Sypha couldn’t see a way of crossing. It was too big. There were no other structures around the narrow balcony that Trevor was waiting for her on, and no water for her to freeze.

A soft thump came from behind her as Alucard caught up. He assessed the gap between the platforms, then nodded to Sypha.

“Allow me.”

Sypha watched curiously as the vampire vanished in front of her eyes, replaced an instant later by a bat nearly as large as Sypha. It was impressive, but Sypha couldn’t help giggling when she noticed the sword belt slung awkwardly over one of the bat’s wings. Even creatures of the night were subject to minor inconveniences.

Alucard fluttered above Sypha’s head and waited there. Carefully, Sypha reached up and gripped his thin legs. His claws wrapped firmly around her wrists, breaking her skin in the process, but Sypha could tolerate that in return for not being dropped to her death.

No matter how much she trusted Alucard, she couldn’t help resolving herself to her mortality as her feet were lifted off the platform. Alucard’s massive wings flapped harder to accommodate her weight, tousling her hair as they sailed across the chasm. She almost didn’t believe it when her feet touched the ground of the balcony, stumbling as Alucard released her safely.

“Thanks,” she muttered, gripping the balcony’s rail to ward off her encroaching nausea. They were living off of limited rations, the last thing she needed was to puke them up.

“You’re welcome,” Alucard - who was apparently no longer an animal - replied, adjusting his sword belt.

Trevor grunted. “You make a big fucking bat, you know that?”

Alucard’s smile was small, but it showed the tips of his fangs. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”


End file.
